They had all a meaning look about them. Then I remembered
that night is the fairies' day, and the moon their sun; and I
thought--Everything sleeps and dreams now: when the night comes, it will
be different. At the same time I, being a man and a child of the day,
felt some anxiety as to how I should fare among the elves and other
children of the night who wake when mortals dream, and find their common
life in those wondrous hours that flow noiselessly over the moveless
death-like forms of men and women and children, lying strewn and parted
beneath the weight of the heavy waves of night, which flow on and beat
them down, and hold them drowned and senseless, until the ebbtide comes,
and the waves sink away, back into the ocean of the dark. But I took
courage and went on. Soon, however, I became again anxious, though from
another cause. I had eaten nothing that day, and for an hour past had
been feeling the want of food. So I grew afraid lest I should find
nothing to meet my human necessities in this strange place; but once
more I comforted myself with hope and went on.
Before noon, I fancied I saw a thin blue smoke rising amongst the stems
of larger trees in front of me; and soon I came to an open spot of
ground in which stood a little cottage, so built that the stems of four
great trees formed its corners, while their branches met and intertwined
over its roof, heaping a great cloud of leaves over it, up towards the
heavens. I wondered at finding a human dwelling in this neighbourhood;
and yet it did not look altogether human, though sufficiently so to
encourage me to expect to find some sort of food. Seeing no door, I went
round to the other side, and there I found one, wide open. A woman sat
beside it, preparing some vegetables for dinner. This was homely and
comforting. As I came near, she looked up, and seeing me, showed no
surprise, but bent her head again over her work, and said in a low tone: "Did you see my daughter?"
"I believe I did," said I. "Can you give me something to eat, for I am
very hungry?" "With pleasure," she replied, in the same tone; "but do
not say anything more, till you come into the house, for the Ash is
watching us."
Having said this, she rose and led the way into the cottage; which, I
now saw, was built of the stems of small trees set closely together, and
was furnished with rough chairs and tables, from which even the bark had
not been removed. As soon as she had shut the door and set a chair-"You have fairy blood in you," said she, looking hard at me.